Bird outing: Braeside Park (2019)

January 2019

Today, Big Dip Birding held our first birdwatching event for 2019! A bird walk and tour for anyone interested in seeing and learning about birds no matter what the skill level or experience! I had scheduled our January trip for Braeside Park, a renowned site of 295 hectares, located in the suburban sandbelt south of Melbourne. We all met in the car park off Governor Road a little before 8.00am. The day appeared filled with promise, as it mild 20 degrees, with only a slight wind and a bleak overcast sky. A little after our meet time, a congregation of 36 birders had assembled and we were ready to go!​We started by poking around the car park, checking out a sizeable flock of over 30x Red-rumped Parrot. They allowed for close approach and we enjoyed good views of many male and female birds feeding quietly on the ground. There were also a number of Crested Pigeon wandering around. Leaving the car park we wandered through the taller trees that led down to the start of the main wetland area. We had a great view of several Straw-necked Ibis who were feeding under the trees, rather unperturbed by our presence. Though the sun wasn’t out, we still got a good look at their beautiful iridescent plumage, a stunning reflection of rainbow. As expected, Rainbow Lorikeet, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and Noisy Miner buzzed around and overhead as we walked.

Our group enjoyed spectacular views of an Australasian Darter as it flew directly over our group showing off its famous 'snake-like' neck

A Black-faced Cuckooshrike photographed by David Bowen of Yorsys Photography during our walk

Down to the wetlands, our group made its way to the first viewing area. Here we watched a male Blue-billed Duck displaying for a female who appeared completely disinterested, though we all enjoyed the display. Probably most of note was a Freckled Duck who was huddled up at the base of a tree. Other birds included both Australasian Grebe and Hoary-headed Grebe, Eurasian Coot, Australasian Swamphen, Chestnut Teal, Pacific Black Duck and a pair of Hardhead. This turned out to be a fruitful spot as we had brief view of a Swamp Harrier lumber by and a Black-shouldered Kite hovering as it searched for prey.

Onwards, we continued along the main path. Today it was much harder to pick up the smaller little bush birds with the size of our ensemble though we had a run in with both European Goldfinch, several Silvereye, a few Red-browed Finch and of course the ever-present Superb Fairywren, Brown Thornbill and White-browed Scrubwren.

The bird hide was (typically) rather quiet, though we did add Black Swan, Little Black Cormorant and Grey Teal to the day list. Continuing along the path we reached the main clearing and followed it back down towards the southeast corner. Here we began to pump into a few bushbirds. We had excellent views of Rainbow Lorikeet, Black-faced Cuckooshrike, Grey Fantail and even got some shots of Brown Thornbill, despite our group size. The highlight however came in the form a trio of Striated Pardalote who presented themselves beautiful in the morning sunlight. A part of our group also bumped into a female Collared Sparrowhawk and a few others saw a Brown Falcon.

I confess I didn't take many shots today as we saw many birds and the priority was to make sure everyone got a good luck, but here was a quick snap of a Grey Fantail who popped out to say hello!

A couple of 50+ Freckled Duck we had the delight of seeing on our visit. I imagine given the amount of these presently onsite that the drought in northern Victoria is forcing these birds south in larger numbers than usual

Keen to get up closer with the waterfowl, we now embarked on the outer route of the wetland walk. At the start, we completed our pardalote set by getting up close with a male Spotted Pardalote.

At the first pond clearing we were amazed to find a flock of no less than 32x Freckled Duck, as well as a Pink-eared Duck and several more Eurasian Coot, Hardhead, Chestnut Teal and Hoary-headed Grebe. One of our members also connected with an Australasian Reed-warbler, and some of us got a quick glimpse of a Little Grassbird.

We continued to follow the ponds around, our waterfowl numbers and list continuing to grow. Then the big highlight of the day came. Caleb Murray, one of the rising stars of birding, called my attention and pointed over the reeds. A big brown heron with short neck and long legs was flying over the reeds. “AUSTRALASIAN BITTERN”! I called out grabbing the attention of our ensemble. Thankfully most of group saw this rare member of the heron family before it dipped down into the thick reeds and disappeared. Now, that was a really great highlight! It was a lifer for over 90% of our group, so we celebrated accordingly.

The worst photograph of all time, but it is an Australasian Bittern! And yes, we were all very happy to see it!

A magnificent Rainbow Lorikeet dutifully meeting us at eye level as we made our way back to the car park

Deciding it was worth the pursuit, we left a trio of Swamp Harrier and our waterfowl and backtracked in an attempted to see it again. But despite our best efforts, the Australasian Bittern had disappeared into the swamp.

By 11.00am it was time to wrap up what had been an excellent morning. It brings me a lot of joy to share my love of birding with the community and meet many new and wonderful nature-keen individuals along the way. As a group we recorded 53 species of bird, an admirable effort by anyone’s standards. Thanks to all who came out! I will look forward to our next outing on Saturday 23rd of February in the Dandenong Ranges! Superb Lyrebird, here we come!

James Mustafa is a birder, wildlife enthusiast and self-confessed twitcher from Melbourne, Australia. A musician and composer by trade, he has been birding, exploring nature and appreciate wildlife for all his life. Since taking up a real fascination with birds, he has soared with tropicbirds in the Indian Ocean, played with hummingbirds in North America, chased owls in Asia, and twitched everything from gulls to leaf warblers across Australia.